2009-09-28

Just doite?

I happened to be in Shibuya for the "anti-Nikezation" march on Sunday. You can read the details at Global Voices Online, but the short version is: Nike are buying naming and renovating rights to Miyashita Park for five years, and the locals aren't happy about the idea of an EXTREEEEEME SK8 PRK replacing the current setup whereby locals and the blue-tarp community share the park peacefully and non-radically. Well, they're getting radical now.

There were a lot of placards and slogans in the air on Sunday, but this was by far my favorite, and given the generally non-political nature of this blog the only one worth mentioning here:

Doku is a Japanese verb meaning "step off," "get out of the way", and doite here is the imperative form. A truly local response. In a few decades' time, when the corporatist dystopia has advanced to a level that makes park sponsorship look like the Paris Commune by comparison, I will look back on this pun and smile to the maximum extent my compulsory implants allow.

RDS:

RDS: Yes, one can keep climbing up the ladder of politeness. "Anou, chotto, doite kudasaimasen ka?" Is "Doke!" at the bottom of the ladder, or shall we consider "Doke! Chikushou!" and other ruder collocations? My sense of it is that final -te forms fall somewhere between requests and commands, although a lot depends on who is saying what to whom.

"Gambatte!" and "Gambare!" may be functional equivalents in many contexts, but (as a linguist) I still think it's important not to ignore the morphological distinctions.